| It seems appropriate to close out this book with a mantra that sums up what you should hope to achieve through your work as a software tester. Frequently throughout this book, qualifiers such as "depending on your company or your project team" and "based on your industry" were used when describing development processes, testing techniques, and quality levels. The use of such qualifiers makes it impossible to universally define a common goal for software quality. The qualifiers are necessary, though, because unfortunately, at least so far, the definition of software quality "depends." In 1998, Dr. Clare-Marie Karat, a psychologist and user interface designer at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne, NY, proposed a computer user's bill of rights. This bill of rights sets a minimum quality bar, a minimum set of expectations that computer users should have the rights to with the software they use. The computer industry has a long way to go to achieve this level of quality, but with your work as a software tester, you can help to make it a reality. The Computer User's Bill of Rights (reprinted with Dr. Karat's permission): Perspective. The user is always right. If there's a problem with the use of the system, the system is the problem, not the user. Installation. The user has the right to easily install and uninstall software and hardware systems without negative consequences. Compliance. The user has the right to a system that performs exactly as promised. Instruction. The user has the right to easy-to-use instructions (user guides, online or contextual help, error messages) for understanding and utilizing a system to achieve desired goals and recover efficiently and gracefully from problem situations. Control. The user has the right to be in control of the system and to be able to get the system to respond to a request for attention. Feedback. The user has the right to a system that provides clear, understandable, and accurate information regarding the task it's performing and the progress toward completion. Dependencies. The user has the right to be clearly informed about all systems requirements for successfully using software or hardware. Scope. The user has the right to know the limits of the system's capabilities. Assistance. The user has the right to communicate with the technology provider and receive a thoughtful and helpful response when raising concerns. Usability. The user should be the master of software and hardware technology, not vice-versa. Products should be natural and intuitive to use.
|
